Thursday, May 25, 2017

Ridiculous is the New Normal - Priorities

Watching commercials on American TV is a look into the leisure psyche corrupted to the highest degree so far.  It's emasculating to imagine having so much time and money that someone gives a shit about a barely perceptible difference in the shade of blue they want to paint their nursery. I guarantee the baby doesn't  give a shit.  And, on round two, the elegance of your closet, with its back-lighting and opulence and scope of the closet, the impeccable spacing on the huge shoe rack.  And the most troubling aspect is that it's not only seen as normal, but as a completely legitimate achievement worthy of working toward, a real sign of success.

Here's a list of things that are all better uses of our time and money than agonizing over color patterns for baby's room or expanding the sartorial and mahogany finish on the trim of your boudoir. Stop being so damned selfish, self-centered, narcissistic, short-sighted, parochial, sheep-like. If you have the disposable income that has you looking for such useless things to hiring a shopper to help you select between luxury vehicles, think a little about your legacy... (your obit) "His discerning tastes was clear having selected the Lincoln MKZ over the Cadillac XT1..." or "Was able to help several thousand low income students get advanced degrees in science and healthcare"

1. Creating art
2. Ensuring a comfortable hospice experience for members of your community
3. Providing time mentoring troubled teens at the local high school
4. Coordinating small business support for women in economically depressed demographics
5. Supporting an effort to remove historically racist monuments in Jim Crow hold-outs down south
6. Giving grants to support urban gardens
7. Fighting for basic science research funding
8. Electing officials who recognize income inequality is unhealthy for sustained economic strength
9. Giving time and money to further local investigative journalism which shines light on corruption, the poison of faith in government
10. Advocating for medical research for rare diseases which big pharma is happy to ignore because of the low expected ROI for treatment option
11. Developing scholarship programs for poor, talented students who aspire to vocations requiring advanced degrees
12. Work to incentivize doctors and nurses to reside in rural areas where medical care suffers
13. Send money to Doctors Without Borders
14. Fund independent documentary films that expose exploitative industries like sex trafficking and high energy collusion
15. Organize resistance to intolerant and bigoted institutions, corporations and other organizations
16. Illuminate the dark underbelly of hate groups
17. Petition the local school boards or fund their programs to provide opportunities to troubled students
18. Make high art available to minimum wage workers through sponsorship and ticket distribution
19. Host a political action group to research and discuss candidates for local and state offices
20. Entreat local cable companies to improve their programs to provide low-cost internet to low-income families
21. Take weekend road trips with your kids and visit and discuss blighted neighborhoods and gated communities
22. Join venture capitalists to support education apps.
23. Donate to Wikipedia
24. Rent out your extra room at low cost to students attending the local college
25. Institute a tech/engineering retraining to people in obsolete industries, like coal mining
26. Facilitate athletic and bodily-kinesthetic activities for senior housing facilities

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